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I’ve sold lots of things-fertility drugs, testosterone injections, cardio-pulmonary devices and an implant for a rare disease called Precocious Puberty

I’ve avoided working for Big Pharma companies like Pfizer, Merck and others and have tried to make good, ethical choices in who I work for

And, mostly I’ve been able to sell medicines I can believe in without compromising my ethics

I chose smaller companies-usually run by CEO’s who are scientists, clinical researchers or former physicians who discovered new ways to heal people

But, our current model favors people like Martin Shkreli– the asshole who bought and marked up a HIV drug Daraprim by 5000%

You can watch him defending himself on VICE TV here

Having been in this industry for over 13 years I understand his rationale……

From a businessstandpoint

From the perspective of a yogi-or really anyone who believes in the idea of honest or good work (the Talmud explains this well)- its sickeningly immoral

Currently I’m in the moral dilemma of interviewing for a new job in this industry and as I find more and more CEO’s like Shkreli – my inner yogi is crying

But, my outer self needs a job-health insurance and a salary

Living in San Francisco on a yoga teacher salary is impossible (especially entering into this profession at over 30 years old )

So I have to decide between ethicsand survival

My dream is that one day we will value those who healas much as we value those who sit in their ivory towers -especially those riding hover boards, drinking expensive wines and living in the delusion that Ghostface Killah is their nemesis

Good biotech CEOs used to exist-just like good CEOs in oil, tech and other industries used to exist in higher numbers

Now our CEO’s are douches like RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal- Tinder CEO Sean Rad- Travis Kalanick of Uber -Martin Shkreli-and the list goes on and on

These assholes make life harder for people like me who want to make a decent living in alignment with their values

A middle class American shouldn’t have to feel like they are selling their souls because someone at the top (usually who has benefited from a privileged background) acts like a spoiled child and runs their company as such

And, those in healing professions- nurses, social workers, medical assistants, yoga teachers etc shouldn’t have to take a vow of povertyto remain in their profession

Martin Shkreli has a net worth of over $100 million dollars-it would be EASY for him to make ethical choices in business

Because he (and CEOs like him) choose NOT to-the rest of us bear the brunt pf this lack of ethics

So, here I am, uninsured and unpaid but with the heavy weight of a conscience of a yogini